The Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisations (FIPO) is a medical organisation representing the majority of the medical professional's organisations in Britain that have private practice committees.
FIPO was formed in 2000 to provide an overarching body for the many specialist and other medical committees acting on behalf of the profession in the independent sector. FIPO will thus provide guidance, policies and co-ordination to these medical organisations. FIPO seeks to work constructively with all independent hospital providers and the private medical insurance industry and hopefully together to advance the cause of independent healthcare.
Executive Board of Directors
Mr Richard Packard, Chairman
Mr Charlie Chan, Vice Chairman
Ms Rosemary Hittinger, Board Member
Mr Richard Packard, Chairman MD DO FRCS FRCOphth
Richard Packard has been in private practice since 1981 in London and Berkshire: a senior consultant at Arnott Eye Associates in London and consultant surgeon at the Prince Charles Eye Unit in Windsor from 1982-2016.
Richard has been involved with the Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisations since 2007, becoming Vice Chairman in 2010. He is now FIPO chairman. He has been closely involved with the CMA Report on Private Practice and the ongoing ramifications of this for the profession.
Prior to this, Richard was:
- Chairman of the Association of Ophthalmologists from 2007-2011;
- Founding member of AOOSIS in 2012 and its first chairman.
Mr Charlie Chan, Vice Chairman, DPhil FRCS
Charlie Chan is a photographer and cancer surgeon practising in Cheltenham. He was appointed as a NHS Consultant in General surgery with a specialist interest in breast and sarcoma in Bournemouth in 1999, later moving to Cheltenham. In 2013 he left the NHS to enter full time private practice.
He has held a number of posts in BASO (British Association of Surgical Oncology) and ABS (Association of Breast Surgery) and was the senior author for the 2005 & 2009 “BASO Guidelines” on the surgical management of breast disease. He is a member of the Trials Management Committee for three large UK breast radiotherapy trials.
He has acted as an expert witness on breast medical negligence cases for nearly 20 years and was instructed as an expert witness in the Ian Paterson Class Action. Subsequently he was appointed by the Bishop of Norwich to act as a Professional Clinical Adviser to the Independent Inquiry.
During his time in private practice, he was one of the longest serving MAC Chairs at Nuffield Health. In 2013 he established the only quorate independent private sector MDT within Nuffield Health and started a cosmetic breast MDT meeting in 2015.
He originally joined FIPO in 2008, initially representing Nuffield MAC Chairs. Since then, he has represented FIPO at meetings with CSSD, the Competition and Markets Authority, Medical Practitioners Assurance Framework, BMA Private Practice Committee, the Independent Doctors Federation, among others. He is invited to speak at conferences, including the BMA private practice conference and the British Orthopaedic Association meeting.
Away from the day job, you will find him at his night job, photographing rock and jazz bands. He was particularly good friends with the late Wilko Johnson, who sadly passed away in late 2022.